Tuesday, 28 August 2012

Poking at the Genetics Kit

Just like the title says, SpringRain (myself) has been poking at the Creatures 1 Genetics Kit with a stick, (and my fingers), trying to make sense out of some of my Norn's genes.

Needless to say, once I got the thing working for the first time, there was a small yet impromptu celebration! After that, there were many small grumblings accompanied by various noises of confusion.

Pairing the genetics kit with the D-DNA Analyser served to pique my curiosity and make things a little bit clearer...well, make them easier to see, anyway. I suspect that simply trying to use the genetics kit on it's own would have had me closing it down and looking for a user manual. As it is, I tried opening and comparing my Norns' genomes with those of the starter set that comes with the game, (You know, mum1, mum2, mum 3...dad1, dad2, dad3 etc...). I forget which breed which genome is associated to, (is mum1, Horse Norns? mum6?), and I'm not sure if I'm doing anything right. In fact I am pretty sure I'm doing it all wrong and I'm probably going to learn this whole thing through making lots and lots of mistakes. Ahaha! XD

In any case, I did enjoy looking at some of the genes from the generation three and generation four Norns in my Albia.

I'll start by posting some of them here, beginning with the first Norn from my Generation 3 list, which would be...Lily! (Shown here nomming a Grendel toy).

I haven't figured out what any of them really mean yet, though perhaps I can take a guess at what some of them mean until I have completed further studies. There will be a small update on my generation four Norns following this weirdness. :D

This gene was followed by a whole lot of <end>'s and the info that "Loss = 1" The gene it was compared with had a PLUS type 1 after the PLUS type 0 bit. From what I gathered reading Discover Albia and peeking in the genetics kit, lobe 7 is the attention lobe in the brain...I think.

I have not a clue what this means. All I know is it shouldn't affect Lily because anything after those little <end> thingees is powerless.

HALF LIVES:

1 Different in File 2 0 Emb B MutDup <016> 249 <227> 73

Compared to the gene above it, this gene has an number of 249 instead of 248 and a number of 73 instead of 72. I think it's a chemical of some sort and maybe the thing at the end is a half life? Oh yeah...it is under the heading HALF LIVES, so maybe this is one. Looking in the genetics kit under the tab 'Biochemistry' shows me that if this is a chemical, it is called 'not_allocated4'. Hmm....*rubs chin*

REACTIONS:

111 Different in File 2 25 0 Emb B MutDup 1*Reward + 1*<NONE> => 1*Reinforcement + 1*PunishmentEcho; half-life = 16
This gene looks like it might have something to do with a Norn's learning from being rewarded. Excpt it says + 1*Punishment Echo where it is supposed to say + 1*RewardEcho. I'm not sure but this could be the mutation passed down from Bellis which punishes a Norn when they are rewarded for things. Er...mostly I am guessing here.

This gene has a couple of mutations. Instead of giving 1*Adrenaline, it gives 4*Adrenaline plus 1*Ageing (instead if 1*<NONE>). It also has a half-life of 128 instead of 88. Whatever this does, it seems that 4 adrenaline gives 1 bit of ageing, causing Norns to age from...stress? Is that right? I don't know.

The only difference in this gene compared to the normal one is that instead of being Analogue, it's an Inverted Analogue. Go figure. *clueless*

STIMULI:

310 Different in File 2 26 0 Old B Mut 'I am travelling' causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0, , , => 23*Tiredness++ +16*Boredom- +32*Sleepiness + 0*<NONE>
This gene gives 23 tiredness instead of 22 tiredness to a Norn who is travelling. This only affects them in the 'Old' life stage. So...Lily might get a little bit more tired a little bit faster when she travels as an elder.

Those are all the different genes I could find, apart from different body part images and pigment mutations, which there were a lot of! I don't think I can make sense of those at all just yet since they look like a lot of numbers and because I can't remember which breeds mum1, mum2, etc. correspond to.

That was actually a lot more fun than I expected, although there has to be an easier way to copy genes into a post than saving all the images in MS Paint and painstakingly typing them out again, right?

Ahaha!

Now to give my brain a break and show off some of my precious gen four sweeties! This boy here with the lovely long legs is the charming Clause, son of Riding and Aidan, continuing the Circus Theme in my world!

In fact he has a brother and a sister who have the same issue, making a merry little trio. His brother Stilts has the Santa Norn legs and their sister Harper has Fox Norn legs. They looked ridiculous attached to such tiny bodies but Harper, Stilts and Clause seemed to be oblivious and filled with mischievious glee. The little smile and the tapping foot showed that Clause was impatient to play the second he hatched. Unfortunately, he would be exported for the time being because I had eggs left, right and centre, plus the main herd of adults to watch. Not to worry, he would make his reappearance.

Upon being imported back into Albia, I quickly sent Clause up the lift to the learning computer, where he was tutored on a steady supply of Encyclopedia Nornica volumes 1 to 5. He managed to make it through all of them with flying colours, stopping for a few licks of honey after volume two (being one of the lengthiest books I normally like to feed baby Norns after getting through this).

Elsewhere in Albia two half-brothers were playing in the underground passage beneath the incubator. Boots, the son of Lancelot and Chip was the taller, older brother, looking down into the inquisitive face of Biscuit, son of Meriadoc and Chip.

Chip's boys were both doing well and it was nice to see them getting along together. Tickles and nuzzles were plentiful, yet Boots could not help giving the occasional slap when his cute baby brother continued to follow him everywhere. Biscuit was ignoring his growing hunger in his fascination of big bro. His life force was fairly low as he had wandered straight through the garden and met with Boots in the dark basement under the temple before they were carried across the underground passage by the cart. Reluctantly, I separated them in order to coax some food into Biscuit's mouth while Boots went up towards the music room.

Lessons finally finished, Clause certainly enjoyed his pot of fresh honey while measuring himself up against the lift button. He had a clear advantage over most baby Norns, with those gorgeous red legs adding extra height. I thought I had installed the 1997 Santa Norns but I must have been mistaken for although I have a Christmas kit for that year installed, these legs prove the Norns must not have come with that kit. I don't know...maybe I can find a link to them somewhere. In any case, I love Clause's comical appearance. He and his siblings never fail to make me laugh as they brighten up the land.

Down in the lower level someone else had her paws tightly clasped around a honey pot of her own. Little Cola licked at the delicious sweet substance over and over, not satisfied until the whole thing was empty. After licking it clean she dropped the hollow pot in the kitchen and ventured into the garden where she discovered the herb trellis and the lifts.

It seems two boys weren't enough for Chip! Here is yet another of his sons...meet Goku! Named after a beloved manga and anime series or two (there is more than one Goku that I like. One from Saiyuki and the other from Dragon Ball Z!). This little Norn probably won't be transforming into a glowing golden warrior or whipping out a cool staff but he does have the childish, playful attitude and adventurous spirit. He was far more interested in running off into the world as quick as he could before I could teach a single word.

The rest of the Norns had spread out a bit while I juggled the new arrivals, exporting and importing due to the large amount of Norns that would not all be allowed to be imported into the world at once since the option greyed out at around 7 or 8. Down in the submarine bay on the island were Pan (left), with Honey, (right), enjoying sharing some girls' time together. They had a radio with a good tune and the gentle lapping of the ocean waves under the platform to create a peaceful atmosphere.

Strawberry meanwhile, was munching on an apple by the binoculars. Could this be the first case of cannibalism in Albia? Lol. Her pretty red colouring was a strong contrast to the misty bluish cliffs in the background. I was extremely happy to see it being carried on by a couple of Norns. It could have been my imagination, yet I thought it was gradually getting darker.

Rosie had a marvellous time with the flibberty-gibbet! She seemed to be closer to the normal Horse Norn colour, which was nice as it gave some diversity. It's hard enough to tell everyone apart with all the same breed. I almost found myself wishing for Amaikokonut's name tags that she made for C3/DS. Luckily, there is always the big red pointer arrow to click if I get confused who is who when my Norns are huddled together.

Another norn having some playtime with the toys was Eclaire, a daughter of Lily, choosing the perennial favourite to entertain herself with - the striped bouncy ball. It seems that each of my Norns goes through a phase of complete obsessiveness with this enchanting toy, until they've been adults for several hours and the strong sway it used to hold over them loses it's pull. Perhaps I use it one too many times to lead them into lifts and press the buttons.

Cola was growing up along with her sisters and brothers and eventually she came down from her perch high in the Grendel tree to watch the drips from the cave ceiling. Maybe she was waiting for the submarine.

Last but not least of the females to meet is little Harper, sister of Clause and Stilts. With a suggestion from the hand, she took a liking to the clock in the Grendel treehouse and set about trying to push it, thankfully distracted from the weed right beneath. It made a cute picture yet it was disappointing that she couldn't do much with the clock. Maybe a CoB can be made that would let these objects become more entertaining, such as changing the time or making a cuckoo pop out?

There are more males to introduce however the reason I have shown all the girls for now is that I am raising a world full of females! Not wishing to leave anyone out, I decided to be a bit tricky and see if I could import one male at a time to romp with the ladies, exporting one female to make room, then choosing a different female to export and male to import for the next round of breeding.

It's going to be a bit of a juggling act but with the circus theme these ponies have going, hopefully it should be all part of the act!

Bye for now, and don't be afraid to crack open the genetics kit and poke around at squishy bits for yourself...it's not as scary as it seems!

1 comment:

Actually that Norn in the first picture with the Santa legs might be Stilts...XP I forgot to label it properly. Either way, both of them were taught the same way! Lol. It's so hard not to get mixed up with these Norns.

About Me

I am an Aussie girl in the state of the Banana Benders. I have blonde hair, blue-grey eyes, a sweet tooth and I'm 167cm tall. I love literate online rp, Creatures games, animals, writing and drawing. My birthday is April 29th.